Glo Gateway, expanding horizon for mobiles

Recently Glo Gateway unleashed its roaming deals for the prepaid users on the network. Remmy Nweke, reports that the step is expanding the horizon of all the mobile subscribers in the country and beyond.


The telecom international gateway subsidiary of the Second National Operator (SNO), Glo Gateway fortnight ago announced the expansion of its prepaid roaming destinations to six more countries, namely Spain, South Africa, Belgium, Turkey, Ukraine and Algeria.

Significantly this compliments the postpaid roaming services available in over 140 countries of the world on Glo network.

The impact of this development, according to the Head, Glo Gateway, Mr. Charles Odiase began in May 2005 when the SNO launched its prepaid roaming, starting with the United Kingdom (UK), even as arrangements have been advanced then to extend the service to the United States (US) and some European and Middle East countries, which he described as a sign of the telco’s commitment to the convenience of its subscribers.

“We want to make it possible for postpaid as well as prepaid subscribers to access our services even when they are abroad on business or leisure,” he declared.

The CAMEL versus USSD option:
He explained that Glo prepaid roaming service is offered on the Customized Application for Mobile Enhanced Logic (CAMEL) phase 2 roaming methodology which is the latest innovation in prepaid roaming.

CAMEL is superior to the one way roaming where customers could only receive calls and the Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) roaming obtainable in some other African countries.

Though Glo Mobile prides itself as the first to introduce the CAMEL phase 2 roaming in the country, the option of CAMEL phase 2 enables the prepaid customers to make and receive calls as well as receive text messages while roaming outside Nigeria.

While USSD, for instance, allows for the transmission of information via a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) network. Contrasting with Short Messaging Service (SMS), it offers real time connection during a session, even as a USSD message could be upto 182 alphanumeric characters in length.

As said by Odiase, to enjoy prepaid roaming service on the network, a Glo Mobile prepaid customer simply needs to recharge his account after which he will be able to use it while roaming. Thus, such a customer would be able to maintain the same number when he travels abroad.

Benefits to subscriber:
“The subscriber is able to stay in touch with friends, family and business associates back home and the service offers users unimaginably crisp and clear calls. The quality of service makes him feel as if he is next door even when he is thousands of kilometres away,” he stressed.

Other benefits of the service as outlined by him, for subscribers comprise the ability to control his usage since it is a prepaid service and the fact that he is not required to make any deposits or fill out any documentation to enjoy the service, as is the case with postpaid roaming. This, industry watchers said depicts a plus for Glo Gateway.

ITRealms Online recalls that barely a year after its commercial launch, the Glo Gateway, a subsidiary of Globacom in August 2004, made its debut. This, the telco said was in fulfillment of its avalanche of licenses including Glo Mobile, Glo Gateway, Glo Fixed and as a national operator.

Basically, Glo Gateway is the international wholesale voice and data exchange otherwise known as roaming, in addition to standing out as the Trading Business Unit (TDU) of the SNO.

Thus, Glo Gateway has positioned Globacom to provide telephone hubbing services for the rest of the world by the commissioning of its international switches in phases across five of the six continents of the world.

Giving some insights into the modalities of the Glo Gateway, Odiase said that the subsidiary facilitates international calls to and from Nigeria on Globacom and other operators who may depend on the network to deliver promptly.

Launching switches in phases:
On completion of the phased deployment, he said, Globacom plans to have gateway infrastructure and switches not only in Africa, Europe and America, but also in Singapore and Hong Kong in Asia, the United Arab Emirate in the Middle East and the Australian continents, which are intended to strategically position the network as a major player in the global telecommunication industry.

And with the commissioning of its switch in the United Kingdom in September 2004, he pointed out that Globacom became the first operator in Africa to launch gateway switches outside the continent to carry international voice and data traffic. This was followed soon by the construction of the switches in Paris, France; Frankfurt, Germany and the United States of America, which is still going and nearing completion.

Accordingly the telco maintains four state-of-the-art Gateways in Nigeria; comprising two in Lagos, the commercial capital of Nigeria and one each in Abuja, the Federal Capital of Nigeria and Port Harcourt, the hub of petroleum industry in the country.

Outlining the major benefits of this infrastructure development for Nigerian telephone users, Odiase said it has to do with a substantial saving on international calls due to improved voice clarity and significant reduction in call delay. This is in addition to dedicated circuits provided and managed by Globacom to ensure higher call completion rates.

What’s a telecom gateway?:
Within the telecommunications sector, the term gateway has several meanings connoting that in a communications network, a network connection is equipped for interfacing with another network that uses different protocols.

It may contain devices such as protocol translators, impedance matching devices, rate converters, fault isolators, or signal translators as necessary to provide system interoperability, which also requires the establishment of mutually acceptable administrative procedures between both networks. Hence, a protocol translation or mapping gateway interconnects networks with different network protocol technologies via performing of the required protocol conversions.

Interestingly, Glo Gateway within a year of its operation said it has engaged 193 networks globally while offering roaming in 98 countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, Spain, Holland, Switzerland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Greece, Singapore, Hong Kong, India, Denmark and Hungary. Other countries in the roaming agreement include Saudi Arabia, Syria, South Africa, Algeria, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Egypt, Kenya, Uganda and Benin Republic.

The momentous benefit, according to industry observers is that on Glo network, subscribers not only enjoy the voice and SMS within the prepaid and postpaid roaming platform respectively, but it afford them to keep in touch online through its General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) roaming and Blackberry services.

Odiase added that the introduction of GPRS roaming facility by Glo Gateway enables Glo Mobile subscribers who travel abroad for business or leisure to browse the internet and send or receive picture messages on their Glo mobile phones.

International switches:
The Glo Gateway’s international switches equally facilitate the network to directly interconnect other leading international carrier service providers, offering quality hubbing service for other operators in the world and terminate and aggregate quality traffic directly from Nigeria to the rest of the world.

Presently, Glo Gateway has direct interconnectivity deals with leading international carriers such as British Telecoms, France Telecoms, Belgacom of Belgium, Link Africa and KPN Eurovoice of Netherlands, France Telecom, IDT Global and Cable and Wireless of UK, iBasis of USA, T-Systems of Germany and Teleglobe of Canada. This has led to a significant improvement in traffic aggregation for the Nigerian telecoms market.

Notable is the Glo Link international calling card unveiled on May 9, 2005, which allows telephone users - customers of Glo mobile and others alike; to make international calls and enjoy what the telco tagged ‘superior connectivity to the outside world.’ Also, Odiase said, customers could call over 135 countries with varied tariff ranging from N15 per minute to N50 per minute, excluding access charge centred on Per Minute Billing (PMB).

And taking advantage of its state-of-the-art technology and expertise in handling international voice traffic by Glo Gateway, Glo Link international calling card, according to Odiase, was designed to address the frustrations of customers using other international calling cards in the market whose service is based on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology platform.

Conclusion:
From all indications, Glo Gateway has a very aggressive business strategy, aimed at transformed the subsidiary eventually to dominate the international carrier business on the continent.

Probably like one customer puts it: Glo is delivering on the highest possible quality, comprehensive and affordable international communications services on the continent by installing relevant infrastructure based on the best business practices and advanced communications.

And for the chief operating officer, Globacom, Mr. Jameel Mohammed, the best of Glo is yet to come, moreso now that it has begun in earnest to spread its net in the West African sub region from where to make its way to the heart of Africans with international services.

Thus, increasing the number of options available to the prepaid platform subscribers is not only helping to bridge the digital divide, between them and postpaid subscribers, but ensuring that at all levels in life, there is an opportunity for the people to be on top of their world, mostly with avalanche of communications devices available in the market place today.


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NCC warns Starcomms, others on mobile validity

Apex telecommunications body in the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has frowned at Starcomms Limited and other mobile operators, who insist on cutting mobile subscribers off their networks after a given period due to what they tagged as ‘insufficient airtime validity.’

NCC also warned that non-compliance to this regulatory guideline would attract sanctions from the commission.

This injunction was given last weekend, at the 48th edition of the NCC-organized Telecom Consumer Parliament, which held Friday, August 1, 2008 at the Excellence Hotel, Ogba, Lagos State by the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe.

He noted that NCC has continuously heard about Starcomms among other mobile operators who cut off or deny their subscribers access to services on their networks with the claim that there was no or sufficient airtime validity on a given lines.

Airtime validity according to the operators entails that subscribers must have a given time to use up their airtime loaded on their lines and after such a time the airtime loaded, if not used up, automatically become forfeited which in most cases last between one week and two weeks.

Also, if a subscriber does not have valid airtime for a period such users in some networks like Starcomms cannot receive calls or even Short Messaging Service (SMS).

Ndukwe who was reacting to a complaint brought before the parliament by a lady Starcomms subscriber, said that such excuses do not hold waters, especially when the person in question has airtime on his or her mobile lines.

He warned Starcomms sternly alongside any other operator enjoying such undue privilege whether on the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) or the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) operators, to stop forthwith.

According to him, NCC may be forced to wield the ultimate stick of sanction on mobile operators who refused to adhere to this no validity on mobile directive.

He insisted that all mobile operators must comply with the unrestricted validity on both GSM and CDMA, basically on mobiles.

“Don’t restrict them, because it is their money and they should be able to use it as at when they like,” he cautioned.

Ndukwe also noted in his remark that what the commission has found out was the need to get customer care centres all over the place.

He revealed that the Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) of the commission would soon come out with guidelines to determine the number of minimum care centres an operator is expected to have in a city or suburbs.

“Its sad to note that some one who bought N200 recharge card and had an issue with it may have to spend about N500 on transport to correct a problem on his card,” he decried.

Ndukwe further pointed out that subscribers should be made to have a choice from where they could buy their recharge cards from.

He advised subscribers also to ensure they load their recharge card at the nearest point of purchase.

This, he said, would help immensely in dictating without much ado dealers who sell fake recharge cards of any form.

Equally speaking, the President, National Association of Telecomm Subscribers (NATCOMS), Chief Deolu Ogunbanjo, urged NCC to take a stringent measure on Starcomms on the issue of validity on mobiles, because previously the operator had been warned to desist from such habit during the February edition of the monthly telecom consumer parliament.

Some of the operators at the parliament included the Second National Operator (SNO), Globacom, Zain Nigeria, MTN, Intercellular, MultiChoice Telkom to name a few.

The 48th edition of the Telecom Consumer Parliament dwelt on “Curbing Production and Sale of Fake Products” across the services of both fixed line and mobile operators.

The parliament also discussed issues relating to quality of service, consumer rights protection, environmental impact assessment, interconnection, tariffs and universal service provision.

The monthly parliament which has become an assemblage of major stakeholders in the industry, opinion leaders, public affairs and policy analysts, government officials and students, avail telecoms operators and the industry regulator to be on the spotlight of the consumers. It is rotated across the six geopolitical zones of the country.


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Zain records exciting half year 2008

Leading mobile operator with presence in 22 countries, including the Middle East and Africa, Zain Group, has announced its exciting financial results for the first half of 2008.

The results made available to ITRealms Online at the weekend, showed significant growth recorded in revenues with customer numbers exceeding 50 million.

According to the group’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Saad Al-Barrak, the first half of this year, the telco recorded consolidated revenues of US$3.488 billion, an increase of 26 per cent compared to the first half of last year.

The company’s consolidated Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA), he said, increased by 20 per cent for the same period to reach US$1.305 billion, even as Zain consolidated net profits reached US$551.5 million; an increase of 7 per cent on the first half of 2007 profits.

Year on year customer growth across the two continents where Zain operates, he added, was 58 per cent with the Zain Group serving 50.74 million managed active customers as at 30 June, 2008.

“On the back of splendid results for 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, despite fierce competition in many markets, we are elated that Zain continues its excellent performance in the first half of 2008. Highlighted by crossing the 50 million customer milestone, these impressive results reflect the exceptional operational efficiencies in a company that is investing heavily and rapidly expanding across two continents,” Al-Barrak said.

Stressing that the telco has started to reap the rewards of recent large investments particularly in Iraq, Nigeria and Sudan with these three countries now serving more than half of Zain’s 50 million customers, and they expect similar rewards when the telco in Saudi Arabia and Ghana commence commercial operations.

In a related development, Zain said its also currently testing network in Saudi Arabia with thousands of friendly users and has announced that it will commence commercial operations by the end of August 2008. This follows the successful listing of the group on the Saudi Stock Exchange where its share price is presently trading at double its initial offering.

In addition, Zain said has committed capital investments to date in networks exceeding US$1.5 billion in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Al Barrak further said the group looks forward to launching its modern network and commercial offerings in the Kingdom, and promised to offer the Saudi community world class telecom services, while also assuring its stakeholders of good return on investments in the Kingdom.

After its widely praised and successful launch in Africa offering customers favourable rates for cross-border communications, Zain had on April 14, 2008 introduced the world’s first borderless ‘One Network’ mobile service to 14 million customers in four countries in the Middle East-Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan and Sudan.

Saudi Arabia and Ghana is expected to join the One Network on launch of commercial services, with plans to roll-out One Network in all its operations, subject to regulatory approvals.


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Privacy Notice: Essentials about Google Toolbar (5)

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(Concluded)


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Interswitch, GTBank, 4 others get Postilion awards

Leading provider of integrated solutions for payments and self-service banking, Postilion, has presented InterSwitch Limited, GTBank and four other Nigerian banks with awards in recognition of their outstanding achievements.

The awards were presented by the Senior Vice President and General Manager, Postilion Africa, Deon van Biljon, during the Techno-Interactive Conference organised by InterSwitch at the Metropolitan in Calabar, south-south part of the country.

ITRealms Online recalls that over 22 banks in Nigeria now process electronic transactions on a Postilion platform operated by InterSwitch, where inter-bank transaction switching takes place.

The categories included award for adoption, which went to the United Bank for Africa Plc, for showing the greatest adoption of electronic funds transfer products. While the award for growth went to Intercontinental Bank Plc for witnessing the highest percentage growth in transaction volumes over the past year.

Equally, Platinum Habib Bank Plc (Bank PHB), got its award for being the bank with the greatest improvement in ranking based on transaction volumes in the past year.

In addition, award for consistently demonstrating professional operations management was captured by the Guaranty Trust Bank Plc. Even as First Bank Nigeria Plc, received the innovation outstanding results award.

According to van Biljon, through these awards, Postilion wanted to recognize the tremendous achievements in building state-of-the-art infrastructure in the Nigerian payments market.

“InterSwitch’s achievements have been considerable and the Techno-Interactive Conference, which focused on Chip & PIN and loyalty cards, is a further example of their constant drive for improvement and innovation,” he said.

Nigeria, he pointed out, is an example for other African countries to follow and Postilion is proud that its solutions have been widely adopted as the platform of choice for so many Nigerian banks,” he said.


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Caruso begins work @ NITEL

The newly appointed Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), Mr. Kevin Caruso, on Monday commenced work in his office at the telco’s headquarters in Abuja.

Caruso accompanied by Vice President, Corporate Communications, Transnational Corporation, Mr. Adedayo Ojo and General Manager Business Development, Mr. Nicholas Okoro, met with the senior management staff of the company.

He used the platform to rekindle hope for the workforce, saying his priority is to restore NITEL’s operations within the shortest period of time before the resale of 51 per cent equity of the company to a new core investor.

Caruso also said the problems of the company were not new to him but solicited the cooperation of the worker force in order to achieve team result.

He pledged to put emphasis on staff welfare in order to motivate them to achieve the desired result within the shortest possible time before privatisation.

“We want to get things working again for our workers. We want to get the company back in shape. I certainly cannot fix all the problems myself. So we have to work together. “We have to ensure that NITEL is restored before privatisation. Even if we have just a month before privatisation, we have to do it. This will ensure that every stakeholder including the Federal Government and the investor get adequate value from the sale,” Caruso said.

He equally said that it was only when NITEL was properly positioned that all shareholders would maximize the value of their equity, emphasizing on Transcorp’s desire to turn around the company.

The members of NITEL management who were at the first meeting with the new CEO expressed confidence in the capacity of the telecom company to bounce back into reckoning.
Deputy General Manager, Legal and Regulatory, Mr. Garuba Jubrin, said the resumption of duty by Caruso has ended the long anxiety of the workers over the leadership gap occasioned since former Acting Managing Director, Mr. Matthew Dike, left office.

“We have every reason to be optimistic given the impressive background of the new CEO,” he said.

For the Deputy General Manager, Customer Care, Mrs. Orji told Caruso that although NITEL had loyal customers, their patronage had been tampered with as a result of network performance and asked for immediate actions to restore quality of service.

Head of Finance, Mr. Kevin Uche, noted that Transcorp had just released a cheque for the payment of one month salary to reduce the backlog of salary arrears.

He regretted that Transcorp always had to source for money from outside the organisation to meet staff obligations adding that the workers were eager to start generating enough money to take care of the company’s operations.


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BioPro chips certified by SON – Iheanacho

PRESIDENT, Biopro Technology Nigeria Limited, Mr. Sam Iheanacho, has said that the recently launched Biopro chips are duly certified by Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON).

BioPro products on offer in the Nigerian market include Cell Chip, Universal Chip and iwater, just as he assured that the products would be the solution to electro-magnetic radiations (EMR), electro-magnetic frequencies (EMF) and problems associated with poor potable water in the country.

Speaking at the launch which took place in Lagos, last week, Mr. Iheanacho, said he was inspired on humanitarian grounds to give to the Nigerian society these health and wellness package for a healthier living.

He said Biopro was founded to create awareness of the dangers of electro-pollution in the environment and to collaborate with its technical partners, the American Medical Team for Africa (AMTA) to provide the best health care for Nigerians.

“Our mission is to sensitize the Nigerian public about the concerns of EMR and EMF emitted by cell phones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), bluetooth, headsets, masts, microwaves, hair dryers, amongst others, which have been linked to serious stress-induced health issues,” he said.

He further said that the vision of the company goes beyond business profitability and focuses on service and humanity.

He also stressed that they are committed to partnering with federal health agencies, relevant committees of the National Assembly, private telecommunication operators, state and local governments as well as corporate organizations in their healthcare delivery programmes to the citizenry.

“We’re also committed to providing state-of-the-art medical equipment at affordable prices to equip hospitals and healthcare centres in our various communities,” he said.

Iheanacho added that Biopro cell and universal chips would help to protect against the dangerous radiation associated with cell phones, cordless phones, computers and other EMF emitting devices.

He noted that the Biopro cell and universal chips address stress at homes, work and play, stating that “it is a must have for anyone who is concerned about the effects of electro-pollution in our environment.

In addition, he said, the iwater activator units offer the most advanced, dual action technology to produce what he called intelligent water, stating that iwater closely resembles cellular water structure, hence it is extremely absorbable and enhances body hydration and through gradual improvement of hydration, it helps to restore normal metabolism in the body.

Iheanacho said the chips cost between N5,000 and N8,000 while the water activator is about N150,000, adding that the life span of the cell chip is three years and it can be placed on any telephone handset.

BioPro products, he said, could be bought only from designated branches of BankPHB as well as the staff of Biopro, advising that purchases should not be made from any store or hawker except at Biopro offices nationwide.

In her goodwill message, First Lady of Lagos State, Mrs. Abimbola Fashola, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Science and Technology, Mrs. Alaja Browne, said she was impressed with the Biopro products on display, noting that the state is also worried about the problems of waste hoping that the situation of its management will continue to improve.

Mrs. Browne solicited support in the distribution of these products to help protect the citizenry from the effects of electro-magnetic fields.

She pleaded with residents of the state to pay their taxes promptly so as to empower the state government to deliver on its promises to the people.


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Yahoo! AGM ends without headway for Microsoft bid

The much publicized August 1, 2008 Annual General Meeting (AGM) of Yahoo! stockholders ended at the weekend without any headway for the Microsoft proposal to buy into the leading global Internet company.

This development came in the wake of reports that billionaire proponent for Microsoft take over of Yahoo! search engine, Mr. Carl Icahn, was absent at the Yahoo! AGM.

Even as Yahoo! incumbent nine-man board of directors were returned ‘unopposed’ in addition to the AGM approving additional three vacancies in the board to bring the figure to 11. The remaining three new members would be announced in August 15, this year.

A press statement from Yahoo! headquarters in California, at the end of company’s AGM held Friday, stockholders re-elected all of Yahoo!’s nominees to the Board of Directors.

Additionally, stockholders voted to approve the ratification of the appointment of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as the company’s independent registered public accounting firm, just as they rejected proposals relating to a pay-for-superior-performance principle for executive compensation, the establishment of policies on Internet censorship and the creation of a board committee on human rights.

Re-elected chairman of Yahoo! Mr. Roy Bostock, said they are now more than ever before looking forward to execute the strategy and continued to build a great company.

Last year, Bostock noted that Yahoo!’s board of directors and management took steps to thoroughly reexamine the Internet company’s direction and improve the performance.

“Since then Yahoo! has made significant strides in executing on its strategy, performing particularly well in light of the challenging circumstances of the past six months. Our Board looks forward to continuing to work with management to maximize value for all stockholders,” he said.

The chief executive officer, Yahoo!, Mr. Jerry Yang, pointed out that the company is at a unique point in its history with the eyes of the world focused on Yahoo! and tracking its performance.

He reiterated the commitment of the management in sustaining profitable growth for Yahoo! stockholders.

“The value inherent in Yahoo!’s unique collection of assets is truly extraordinary, and the progress we’ve made on our initiatives this year signals our ability to capitalize on the underlying potential of these assets,” Yang said.

Following the resignation of one of its board of directors, Mr. Robert Kotick, Yahoo! board appointed Microsoft advocate, Mr. Carl Icahn to the board to fill the seat vacated with immediate effect.

The board further voted to expand the board from nine (9) members to 11 while August 15, 2008 has been slated for the board to announce the names of the new three directors, which report said are likely to be anointed by Mr. Icahn.

Currently, Yahoo! board is made up of Roy J. Bostock, chairman, Ronald W. Burkle, Eric Hippeau, Vyomesh Joshi, Arthur H. Kern, Robert A. Kotick (replaced by Mr. Icahn), Mary Agnes Wilderotter, Gary L. Wilson and Jerry Yang.


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MTN rolls out fixed lines tomorrow

Leading telecommunications company MTN Nigeria, has concluded plans to roll out its fixed services in the ancient city of Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, tomorrow, just as the telco weekend launched an online customer care centre in the commercial nerve centre of the nation, Lagos.

The coming of its fixed lines, the telco said, would enable subscribers to have true fixed services running on fibre optic technology in their homes and offices.

Dubbed MTN HyConnect, the telco said is bundled with the internet at broadband speeds of between 64 kilobytes per seconds (kbps) and 2 megabytes per second (mbps).

Affirming this, the Corporate Services Executive, MTN Nigeria, Mrs. Amina Oyagbola, said that the official launch of the service in Ibadan has been scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday, August 7, and is expected to be available in every part of Ibadan.

The lines, according to a press statement from the telco, quoted her as saying that it would also offer superior quality of voice calls and call rates as low as N5 for intra network calls.

“It is however currently available at the three launch locations of Bodija, Ring Road and Dugbe,” she said, adding that MTN HyConnect is already running in Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt while efforts are ongoing to take the service to Aba, Kano, Calabar, Kaduna, Warri, Ilorin, Onitsha, Benin, Jos Maiduguri among many other cities nationwide.

Meanwhile, MTN has launched state-of-the-art Online Customer Assistance Centre at its Ojota Network Monitoring Centre in Lagos.

Announcing this at a press briefing weekend, the Customer Relations Executive, Mr. Akin Braithwaite, said it is a next generation customer care service facility with cutting-edge technology intended to serve its subscribers through the telephone, short messaging service (SMS), internet and other means by which customers could communicate with them in the online world.

He also said this is a major feat for the telco because the centre is anchored on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), through which they could communicate anywhere through VoIP, stating that this gives the telco a lot of dynamic ability to handle customer call coming from anywhere.

Mr. Braithwaite also said the implication is that it gives customers opportunity to service additional 3.5 million customers, and that this would ease a lot of traffic congestion that is currently facing the telco at the friendship shops.

He added that this is just a step in a series of programmes that would be costing the MTN hundreds of millions of dollars in building additional online customers’ assistance centres.

According to him, “this is just to show the importance that MTN places on serving the customer. We are on a journey and we are going to see more and more improvement on the way we serve our customers, as we are providing next generation customer care.”

Also speaking, the Chief Information Officer of the centre, Mr. Chris Coetzee said, the planning took three years to accomplish and the facility is also the main data centre that hosts all of the applications that supports its customers, both from the billing perspective, provisioning as well as the technology in use in the call centres.

“What we did was that we moved the customer phasing and customer servicing organizations closest to the heart of information technology (IT),” he said.
He further said co-locating these facilities is a major step in the telco’s ability to serve customers better, stressing that the centre is one of the largest in Africa, outside South Africa and that in the next few weeks another bigger one would be launched.

Subscribers on the network who are experiencing any difficulty recharging or any other problem could call 182 and 188 or visit its website.

Some other members of MTN at the briefing were the human resources executive, Mutari Wada, Andrew Esemezie, Ibrahim Abba Gana, Ibrahim Umar, Patience Alumba as well as Temiloye Okudipe.


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Rating agencies confirm Etisalat competitive edge

Recent studies by Standard & Poor’s (A +), Moody’s (Aa2) and Fitch Rating (AA-) have confirmed the fastest growing telecommunications company in the world, Etisalat, as having a very strong competitive edge.

The studies in their inaugural international corporate credit ratings affirmed that Etisalat is a company to beat among telecommunications operators.

The strong credit ratings are among the highest of all globally rated telecommunications companies and reflect Etisalat’s strong competitive position, superior profitability and a proven ability to deliver strong and growing cash flows.

ITRealms Online also recalls that last month, the global rating of the fifth Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) operator, Etisalat, continued to soar ahead of its commercial launch in the country by Financial Times rankings (FT500).

Commenting on the outstanding ratings, Chairman, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Hakeem Belo-Osagie, said the ratings are fitting testimonials to Etisalat’s high standards of performance.

“These coming just as we fine-tune plans to deliver commercial services to Nigerians, strengthens our commitment to replicating the prudent financial strategy in order to build a network that is stable and offers Nigerians access to world class telecommunications,” he said.

Belo-Osagie added that this confirms that the telco has the right caliber of personnel even in its operations in the country.

“We are capable of maintaining Etisalat’s track record in quality services, stable growth, as well as in other areas of our operations,” he assured.

He pointed out that Etisalat, is the leading telecom provider in the United Arab Emirate (UAE) and has a solid track record in the UAE over the past 30 years.

Emphasizing, this is evident in robust operating and financial position of the telco which has resulted in superior market share across its businesses in 15 other countries, serving an aggregate of 63 million subscribers.

In a related development, according to the Financial Times rankings (FT500) released recently, Etisalat rose from 444 in the year 2007 to 219 in 2008, in what the ranking described as the equivalent to 14th position in the telecoms sector globally, that is, when compared with fixed and mobile operators, especially within the Middle East and Africa (MEA).

This, officials of the telco said was an indication aligned to the vision of becoming one of the top 10 global telecom operators in the world in terms of market capitalization by 2010.

Equally, this ranking FT stated placed Etisalat as the largest telecommunications company in both the Middle East and Africa, forward against all other regional and international operators in the two regions.

Reacting to the ranking result at the weekend in Lagos, Chairman, Etisalat Nigeria, Mr. Hakeem Belo-Osagie, expressed delight at Etisalat’s new global ranking.

“Etisalat entered Nigeria undisputedly as a leader in Africa. Etisalat Nigeria is therefore in a unique position to leverage on this global strength on all fronts,” he said.

He said that access to this rich pool of knowledge, skills and excellence would ensure that Nigerians have access to the world-class telecommunications services that Etisalat subscribers enjoy everywhere the telco operates.

He added that during the last quarter, Etisalat Group received recognition for its commitment to transparency with regards to financial data and relationship with investors.

ITRealms Online recalls that the prestigious United Arab Emirate (UAE) Securities and Commodities Authority was recently presented to Etisalat with the SCA Diamond Standard for Financial Transparency for the year 2007.

On the verge of commercial launch in Nigeria, Etisalat serves over 63 million subscribers across 16 countries in two continents.

Meanwhile, Etisalat has reiterated its commitment to provide Nigerians with its trademark quality of service, assuring would-be subscribers that the network was undergoing its final stages of testing prior to its commercial roll out.

Speaking at the just concluded West and Central Africa Communications Congress in Abuja, Vice President Marketing, Mr. Wael Ammar, said Nigeria fits into Etisalat’s vision to offer world-class services to the citizens because of the country’s enormous potentials.

Mr. Ammar said this in a presentation titled: ‘Etisalat’s strategies for maximizing growth in West and Central Africa Communications market,’ said the telco’s commitment to raise the quality of services available to Nigerians underlines its $1.4 billion initial investment in the Nigerian economy.

He explained that as a caring operator, Etisalat recognizes the importance and responsibility of balancing profitability and growth along side long term sustainability, stating that its expansion strategy in the West and Central African region is driven not only by market potential but also by the opportunity for Etisalat to add value to lives of the people.


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Egypt to host Internet community

The Government of Egypt has advanced plans to host the Internet community in Cairo, during the next meeting of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), from November 2 to 7, 2008, at Intercontinental CityStars Hotel.

A press statement from ICANN said, the event previously hosted in Cairo in March 2000, would be now in collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry of Communications, the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center (IDSC) and the Internet Society of Egypt.

According to the official website of the Egyptian meeting, Internet has always been a priority for the Egyptian government, as it is considered the platform for socio-economic development.

In addition, Egyptian government sees Internet as a service that aids innovation in education, engendering better health and government services.

Stressing that several efforts and initiatives exerted in a public-private context, facilitated the Internet in Egypt that is witnessing a tremendous growth rate, demonstrating a strong potential in one of the most active Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sectors in the region.

“It is hence no coincidence that Cairo, on behalf of Africa, welcomes back the ICANN community on the ICANN’s 10th anniversary, to host its 33rd International Public Meeting and its annual meeting for 2008,” official of the hosting country said.

Meanwhile, ICANN has conducted three registrar contractual compliance audits and one registry contractual compliance audit between October 2007 and June 2008.

As said by ICANN report on its compliance audit report released recently by the Contractual Compliance Department, indicated that its second semi-annual Registrar and Registry Contractual Compliance Audit Report summarizes ICANN’s audit activities within the period under review as aforementioned.

During this period, the report said, ICANN conducted three registrar contractual compliance audits.

“ICANN conducted each audit by following consistent audit procedures established
before each audit commenced,” Media Advisor to ICANN said in a press statement.

This report contains details regarding the audit methodology, findings, observations and conclusions.


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Security agents to seize laptops, phones

For those traveling to the United States (US), the government of George Bush has given federal security agents new powers to seize travelers’ laptops and other electronic devices at the border and hold them for unspecified periods, reports Washington Post.

Under recently disclosed Department of Homeland Security policies, such seizures may be carried out without suspicion of wrongdoing, the newspaper said, quoting policies issued on July 16 by two DHS agencies.

According to the report, security agents are empowered to share the contents of seized computers with other agencies and private entities for data decryption and other reasons, the newspaper said.

DHS officials said the policies applied to anyone entering the country, including U.S. citizens, and were needed to prevent terrorism.

The measures have long been in place but were only disclosed in July, under pressure from civil liberties and business travel groups acting on reports that increasing numbers of international travelers had had their laptops, cell phones and other digital devices removed and examined.

The policies cover hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, iPods, pagers, beepers, and video and audio tapes -- as well as books, pamphlets and other written materials, the report said.

The policies require federal agents to take measures to protect business information and attorney-client privileged material.

They stipulate that any copies of the data must be destroyed when a review is completed and no probable cause exists to keep the information.


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Actualizing sustainable Internet society (1)

Comment:

The Internet is always growing. It has become a vast, global ecosystem embracing stakeholders from all sectors — the public, industry and business, academia, governments and civil society. It lies in the hands of a remarkable confederation of parties. All of these stakeholders own portions of the Internet — from individual devices to huge, complex infrastructure systems.

Some players own physical communication resources such as optical fiber, satellite, cable systems and wireless networks and others provide software and network-based applications.

Still others provide services that promote and support electronic commerce, social networking, electronic messaging of all kinds, content distribution and delivery, education, and many, many more online applications. All these owners of the Internet represent one of the most diverse groupings of entities in the history of telecommunications.

What gets us up in the morning — and often keeps us up at night — are the innovations and technological advances that are about to become part of that ecosystem. They represent the greatest change in the Internet since its beginnings nearly 40 years ago. They are opening the way for the next billion users to enjoy all that the global Internet has to offer.

Right now, there are about 20 generic top-level domains and 252 country-code TLDs supporting more than 153 million registered names in the domain name space.

Internet users are demanding more. When the global Internet community talks about the next billion users coming on line, they are talking about Asia and the Middle East region. Japan, with its population of 127 million, leads in Internet penetration at 68.7 per cent. And Korea’s population of 34 million has a penetration of 47.6 per cent.

But China is booming. Its population of 1.3 billion has a penetration of 12.3 per cent. India has a population of 1.13 billion and penetration of 5.3 per cent. The Middle East shows similar numbers. Compare that with Europe and Australia, each with around 70 per cent penetration.

So, the Asian countries and the Middle East will be the new face of the Internet — the next generation of Internet users.

I find that prospect very exciting. But at the same time I realize that as the Internet grows in functionality, it also presents more challenges — to the diverse stakeholder communities and to the sustainability of the Internet itself.

For the ICANN community, sustainability means implementing these innovations and technologies — all of which are intended to improve openness, accessibility, diversity, and security — without placing the Internet’s security, stability and interoperability at risk.

So I had like to talk to you about a sustainable Internet society in terms of —
• Multi-stakeholder participation through ICANN’s bottom-up consensus-building model in creating and maintaining the technologies and policies that ensure a single, globally interoperable Internet; and
• How the business community could enhance their business models — and at the same time strengthen the Internet’s sustainability —by implementing Internet Protocol version Six (IPv6).

ICANN’s mission and operating principles
First, let me remind you of ICANN’s mission, which is —• To coordinate, overall, the global Internet’s system of unique identifiers, and to ensure stable and secure operation of the Internet’s unique identifier systems. In particular, ICANN coordinates:

1. Allocation and assignment of the three sets of unique identifiers for the Internet:
• Domain names (a system called the DNS)
• Internet protocol (IP) addresses and autonomous system (AS) numbers
• Protocol port and parameter numbers;
2. Operation and evolution of the DNS root name server system; and
3. Policy development reasonably and appropriately related to these technical functions;
In fulfilling its mission, ICANN is guided by four founding principles. They are to —
1. Contribute to stability and security of the Internet
2. Promote competition and choice for registrants and other users;
3. Forum for multi-stakeholder, consensus-based bottom-up development of related policy, and
4. Ensure an opportunity for participation by all interested parties on a global basis
It is within this framework that I talk to you.

ICANN’s multi-stakeholder model
Although only ten years old, ICANN is the flagship for multi-stakeholderism. The ICANN model represents the insight that a truly global resource like the Internet’s addressing system cannot and should not be influenced by one country or region alone, or by one organization or individual. This multi-stakeholder consensus-building model enables the ICANN community and the global Internet community to develop policies that influence the way the Internet and the domain name system work.

Participation by the entire Internet community — by governments, the business community, the academic community, the technology community, the private sector, and civil society alike — is essential to ensuring that the continuing progress and achievements of the global Internet community benefit us all.

How to participate in ICANN:
The ICANN community’s process for multi-stakeholder decision-making is very open. Debate is a crucial a feature. Often there are divergent positions that take time to work through. There are complex technical and legal issues behind most of the discussions about the creation of policies. We have seen this in the many policy issues ICANN has coordinated.

ICANN’s work and its processes are also transparent. The entire process is available online so individuals can review policy as it is developed and comment on it as they feel necessary. All substantive work is put out to public comment and those comments that are relevant are incorporated into the decision-making process. Your informed comments are one way in which you can participate in policy-making.

You can also join one of ICANN’s Supporting Organizations or Advisory Committees, a more formal route into ICANN’s policy-making processes. One of the main policy-making bodies of ICANN is the Generic Names Supporting Organization, which is made up of a number of constituencies:

• Commercial and Business
• gTLD Registries
• Internet Service and Connection Providers
• Non-Commercial users
• Registrars
• Intellectual Property experts


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NCC tasks operators on disability desk

Telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has tasked operators in the country to set up disability desk at their customer care centres.

This, NCC said, would assist greatly in improving the kind of service being offered the challenge group, namely the persons with disability and the elderly.

Giving this charge at the first Consultative Forum on Challenged Group (CG) organized by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB) at NCC, Mrs. Lolia Emakpore said it would improve the kind of services this kind of group receive at all times.

She said that operators need to develop services that would encourage the challenged group to be part of the e-inclusion in the society and particularly in Nigeria, noting that over 25 per cent of the nation’s population fail under this group.

Mrs. Emakpore in her presentation at the occassion said that addressing the need of the challenged group in ICT services provision is critical to achieving the e-inclusion and Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

She also advocated for a billing platform that is favourable to the challenged group, citing for instance, that through the use of Short Messaging Service (SMS) is discriminatory for some members of the challenged group.

Equally, she asked for special voice call charges for challenged group, stressing that it could come down from about N25 to N20, pointing out the need to check balances through voice prompt by CG.

Industry promotions by operators, she highlighted are passing the CG by which they tagged discriminatory.

“Challenged group can not participate fully in most of these promos,” she said.
In addition, they complained of having difficulty in surfing the Internet and mostly websites of telecom operators as there are rarely voice prompts added to the sites.

She further lamented the non-supportive access platform at consumer care centres and the imperative to have a register of CG in the country to pave the way for special services.

“There is need to incorporate teletype systems into service provision by operators,” he said, adding that they do not want to be treated with pity, but like every other persons.

Educational sponsorship and employment opportunity for challenged group, she said, is another call for concern.

“Communication services should not be discriminatory,” she warned.

In his remark, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Dr. Ernest Ndukwe, reiterated the need for operators to help out in developing services that would give rise to the challenged group usage of communications devices.

Ndukwe who was represented at the occasion by Director, Legal Services at NCC, Mr. Steve Andsenge said, NCC, has advanced plans to launch two state-of-the-art Consumer Centres in Lagos and Abuja to help in alleviating the challenges the group go through mostly at customer care centres.

He also said that these centres would assist in further stimulating awareness creation for telecom consumers.

He, therefore, urged telecom operators to re-organise their customer care centres to be accessible to the challenged group.


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MTN launches online care centre

MTN Nigeria Limited has launched state-of-the-art Online Customer Assistance Centre at its Ojota Network Monitoring Centre in Lagos, reports CHARLES OKOH.

Announcing this at a press briefing weekend, the Customer Relations Executive, Mr. Akin Braithwaite, said it is a next generation customer care service facility with cutting-edge technology intended to serve its subscribers through the telephone, short messaging service (SMS), internet and other means by which customers could communicate with them in the online world.

He said this is a major feat for the telco because the centre is anchored on Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) station through which they could communicate anywhere through VoIP, stating that this gives the telco a lot of dynamic ability to handle customer call coming from anywhere.

Mr. Braithwaite also said the implication is that it gives them opportunity to service additional 3.5 million customers, and that this would ease a lot of the traffic congestion that is currently facing the telco at the friendship shops.

He added that this is just a step in a series of programmes that would be costing the MTN hundreds of millions of dollars in building additional online customers’ assistance centres.

According to him, “this is just to show the importance that MTN places on serving the customer. We are on a journey and we are going to see more and more improvement on the way we serve our customers, as we are providing next generation customer care.”

Also speaking, the Chief Information Officer of the centre, Mr. Chris Coetzee said, the planning took three years to accomplish and the facility is also the main data centre that hosts all of the applications that supports its customers, both from the billing perspective, provisioning as well as the technology in use in the call centres.

“What we did was that we moved the customer phasing and customer servicing organizations closest to the heart of information technology (IT),” he said.

He further said co-locating these facilities is a major step in the telco’s ability to serve customers better, stressing that the centre is one of the largest in Africa, outside South Africa and that in the next few weeks another bigger one would be launched.

Subscribers on the network who are experiencing any difficulty recharging or any other problem could call 182 and 188 or visit its website.

Some other members of MTN at the briefing were the human resources executive, Mutari Wada, Andrew Esemezie, Ibrahim Abba Gana, Ibrahim Umar, Patience Alumba as well as Temiloye Okudipe.


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Siemens corruption probe: Ex-employee, Lamprecht named in dereliction of duty

The global vice chairman of Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) stands accused by Siemens, his former employer, of “dereliction of duty” as the German conglomerate and telecoms equipment manufacturer leaves no stone unturned in its ongoing investigation into alleged corruption, reports telecomtv.com.

Thus, NSN’s Rudi Lamprecht was named by Siemens as one of the eleven former executives its pursuing and from whom the company is seeking substantial damages.

The Siemens’ investigation became public knowledge back in late 2006 when, amidst allegations of bribery and other illegal payments valued at more than a billion euros, several senior Siemens staff were arrested in police raids.

The case against Rudi Lamprecht comes as Siemens focuses on former high-ranking staff that, the company says, should have done more to stamp out an insidious culture of corporate corruption that was infecting several of Siemens’ divisions.

Now Siemens is attempting to recover damages from Lamprecht and ten others.

The report said Siemens “bases its claims on breaches of their organisational and supervisory duties in view of the accusations of illegal business practices and extensive bribery that occurred in the course of international business transactions in the years 2003 to 2006 and the resulting financial burdens to the company.”

Lamprecht no longer sits on the Siemens AG board, but retained his directorship on joining Nokia Siemens Networks in October last year.

Back in 2006, German prosecutors said the corruption case involved at least €200 million after initial investigation showed that Siemens employees may have embezzled as much as €20 million euros by diverting the money into numerous illegal off-shore accounts.


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Internet sector booms in Europe

Internet sector is booming in the European continent as connectivity continues to increase, reports, telecomtv.com.

According to the new figures recently published by the European Information Technology Observatory (EITO), which sounds as though its headquarters should be atop a Swiss Alp - will grow by some 10.8 per cent over the course of this year and that the sector will be worth €33.7 billion.

EITO’s chairman, Bruno Lamborgini, analysing the factors driving the continued expansion of Internet access across Europe comments, “Innovative additional services and falling prices are helping the connections business to achieve vigorous growth.

Fast Internet connections are being offered today in combination with low-priced telephone flat rates or on-line on-demand services for movies and music.”

Growth is also being driven by reduced tariffs for data transfer. The report says that by the end of the year there will be an estimated 114 million broadband Internet connections in Western Europe and high-speed access will be available 26 per cent of the entire population.

It turns out that Germany is far and away the biggest single Internet market in Europe, with estimated revenues of €8.4 billion over 2008.

This equates to a rate of growth of 8.5 per cent over 2007 and Germany now has a 25 per cent share of the Internet market in Europe.

Elsewhere, France has seen the strongest uptake of Internet services this year and is the fastest-growing market. Revenues from domestic French Internet connections have grown by 22.5 per cent to a value of €4.6 billion.

Uptake in the UK is steady if not particularly spectacular. The sector, like that in France, will be worth €4.6 billion this year, equal to a growth of 7.2 per cent. The UK and France also have identical market shares 13.6 per cent each.

Down in the Iberian peninsula, Internet growth in Spain is 7.6 per cent and the sector will be worth €3.2 billion this year. Spain has an EU market share of share of 9.5 per cent.

The observatory forecasts that Internet access and revenues from it will continue to rise over the course of 2009 at an overall EU rate of 9 per cent. This means that next year the Internet connectivity and services market in Europe will be worth some €36.9 billion.


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